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Tim-Mee Mutants

Monday, June 6, 2016

Back in January a blog reader submitted his Cargo Truck-Gun-Mod and has now followed it up with several new cool mods he refers to as the "Tim-Mee Mutants." Below are the photos of the mods along with his thoughts and any necessary instructions. Enjoy!

After I did my gun-truck mod, I decided to make my own self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG). While going through my collection to find beat up and/or knockoff M48s for the project, I found a couple of the other variations. This inspired me and the vehicles pictured are the result. I call them “Tim-Mee Mutants”. In addition to the M35 gun truck, they are:

XM177 turret on the M48 chassis

This is a surprisingly attractive vehicle. It looks to me like an Eastern-bloc tracked APC – Soviet/Russian BMD series, for example.

Payton machine gun turret on the M48 chassis

M48 turret on the XM800 chassis

I thought this looked ridiculously over-gunned until I did a little research. It turns out that the “tank caliber gun on a wheeled vehicle” idea has been around for a while. The South Africans actually had a couple of versions. One of them, the Mk7 Eland, acquitted itself well (mainly by being hella fast and maneuverable, compared to the enemy tanks) against Angolan T-34 and PT-76 tanks. More recently and closer to home, the US Army is fielding the M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System.

Payton machine gun turret on the XM800 chassis

Sidewinder missile launcher on the XM800 chassis

Sidewinder missile launcher on the M48 chassis

The last two vehicles (pictured above) use a four-rail Sidewinder missile launcher I pulled off the ridiculous trailer-mount included in some New Ray “Glorious Mission” playsets. (New Ray cut a hole in the top of the launcher and added a gunner’s seat, because nothing improves a gunner’s combat performance like a point-blank face full of solid-rocket motor exhaust. ?)
On each of the missile launcher vehicles, I had to raise the launcher component so it rotates freely when the missiles are tilted up. I used a 3/4-inch PVC pipe bushing with a hexagonal flange as a base. Once the hole for the turret spindle and the spokes are cut out, push the top of the bushing through the chassis from the underside. Two flat sides of the hexagonal flange fit almost perfectly between the ribs on the underside of both the M48 and the XM177 chassis. A couple of shims cut from 1/16-inch sheet styrene and a line of hot glue holds it solidly. Then cap the bushing with another piece of sheet styrene cut to fit. Drill a hole in the styrene large enough for the pin on the bottom of the missile launcher and use a flat head screw to hold the launcher in place. (I saved and reused the original screw used to attach the launcher to the New Ray trailer.)
New Ray missile launcher on M48 chassis: Something like this was actually built. It was a Sidewinder launcher mounted on an M113-derived chassis, and was called the MIM-72 Chaparral. (Comparing the pictures, it’s clear the New Ray toy was based on either this launcher, or on the The main difference is the truck-cab driver position on the Chaparral. Since my self-propelled anti-aircraft missile launcher (SPAAM) has an M48 chassis, I think the driver can stay inside the hull ;-)